The Framing

Five.

Listen to the song after you read the chapter.

December 7th. 6:55am. Cafeteria.

I was waiting in the cafeteria for Alex to show up. I didn't really have any hopes for today going well, especially after last week when we argued with each other non stop for three hours.

A few minutes went by and I heard the doors open. "Good morning," he said. I was so tired I couldn't tell if he was genuinely being nice or sarcastic.

"Did you bring anything for us to work on today?" I asked.

"Fuck no," he said.

"Did you bring anything at all?" I noticed he had a bag with him, which made me wonder what was inside if he didn't have any schoolwork.

"Just my usual notebook," he said. He opened his bag and took it out, but I noticed something else was at the bottom of his bag.

"What's that?" I asked.

"What's what?"

"That black thing at the bottom of your bag."

"Oh," he said, "it's nothing."

"Whatever," I said, "let's just work on something."

I spent the first half hour trying to explain to him the stuff he was learning in his chemistry class, which was kind of hard for me considering it's my worst subject.

"Are you getting any of this?" I asked.

"Not really, but you're a lot better than my actual teacher."

That was the first nice thing he's said to me this whole time which shocked me. "You really mean that?" I asked. He didn't really say anything.

"I have to use the bathroom," he said. He got up and walked away pretty quickly.

I sat for a few seconds before I glanced over at his bag. It was wide open on the table and I looked inside. I pulled out a black notebook that looked like it had been used for a really long time. I didn't want to open it and invade his privacy, but my curiosity got the best of me.

I turned to the first page. It was a drawing of a man with a TV on his head. I didn't understand what it meant, so I kept flipping through pages. Most of them were crude drawings, song lyrics, doodles, and notes being passed between him and his friends in class. I didn't understand why he was being so protective of it, until I turned to one of the pages in the back. It was a letter he wrote to someone, but I didn't understand who specifically.

It's been three years since I last saw you. I think about you every single day.
I just want you to know that some things are getting better. I really wish you were still here so you could see.
Somethings aren't getting better though. Dad was in the hospital again last night, but I couldn't visit. He wants to see you too. I don't blame him.
I wish you could read this.

"What are you doing?" Alex asked from behind me. I jumped and turned around.

"Uh, nothing..."

He sat down. "What did you see in there?"

"Just some drawings and stuff..."

"Good," he said.

"You're not mad?" I asked.

"No," he said, "you can look through it again if you want." I was surprised he was acting so calm about it. I thought he was going to freak out.

I picked it up from the table and flipped back to the letter he wrote. I pretended it was the first time I was reading it. "Who did you write this to?" I asked.

"My brother," he said.

"Oh," I said, "did he-"

"Yeah," he said, "he did."

"Oh."

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked.

"Aren't you just supposed to be my tutor?"

"You obviously don't want me to be, so we can just talk."

"Thanks," he said, "I'm sorry I said all that stuff about you last week. You're pretty cool."

"It's okay," I said, "why'd you write the letter?"

"I don't really know," he said, "I usually write to him and end up ripping it up. But I felt like keeping this one."

"Were you guys close?"

"Sort of," he said, "he was like five years older than me so he moved out when I was in middle school and we didn't see each other much."

"Yeah I don't know how I'd be if something like that happened to one of my brothers," I said.

"How many do you have?" He asked.

"Three," I said, "and they're triplets so they're really close with each other."

"So who are you close with?" He asked.

"No one," I said, "but I used to be close with my mom. Now she hates me and thinks I'm a criminal."

"What about your friends?" He asked.

"They're alright," I said, "I've known them for a really long time."

"Yeah I've known my friends for a while too."

"What do you guys talk about?" I asked.

"Guy stuff I guess," he said, "nothing interesting. Not like you and I."

"You think of me as a friend now?" I asked.

"Don't you think of me that way?"

"I guess I do now," I said.

"Good," he smiled. That's the first time I've seen him show any kind of emotion.

We spent the rest of our tutoring session talking about each other and the stuff we like to do. When it was time to leave, he followed me out into the parking lot and walked me to my car.

"What was the drawing in the beginning of your notebook?" I asked as we were walking.

"Which one?" He asked.

"It's on the first page."

He took his notebook out of his bag and looked at the drawing of the man with a TV on his head. "Oh it's from an album cover," he said. He also rolled up the sleeve to his jacket to show me he had it as a tattoo.

"Which album?" I asked.

"Well it's actually a single," he said. He ripped a small piece of paper from his notebook and wrote the name of it and gave it to me.

"Is it your favorite song or something?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said, "I listen to it every day. Listen to it when you get home."

"I will," I said and got in my car. I looked at the paper he gave me. It said "protection- movements" on it. He waved to me as I pulled out of the parking lot. Today was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be.